What Good Neighbors Do
by lynnsenpai
Summary: ...is change your broken lightbulb when you order them to. {germano; next door neighbor au}


"Hey, you!"

Ludwig straightened, eyes round and curious. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked down the corridor to his right. He adjusted the waistband of his dark blue boxers, tugging the hem of his sleep shirt down.

Suddenly, something smacked him in the shoulder, and he jumped back, startled; as the plastic-wrapped newspaper fell to the ground with a smack, he narrowed his eyes down at it. "What the…?" he muttered, blinking slowly.

"Hey, you! I'm talking to you!"

A demanding voice, loud in volume and suave in accent, called to him, and Ludwig looked up, glancing down the left, catching the sight of who'd thown the newspaper at him.

"Yeah, you!" his diagonal-wise neighbor from across the corridor snapped. Lovino Vargas was wearing baggy yellow shorts printed with tomatoes and a black t-shirt; paired with the gaudy pink slippers he was wearing and the green apron he had tied around his torso, he looked absolutely ridiculous. He put his hands on his hips. "What, are you deaf? Or just too fucking dumb to realize that I'm talking to you?"

Ludwig frowned. "What do you want?" he called back, a little irked at the insults. Was it truly called for? But then again, that was just how Lovino Vargas talked to everyone. Everyone, except elderly folks, and women, and children, and occasionally his younger brother who visited every Sunday, and of course clergymen, and basically everyone. It was a little exhausting.

Lovino crossed his arms and huffed. His cheeks were a little flushed, and suddenly embarrassment pinched his features. "One of the light bulbs in my kitchen lamp fizzled out," he said, voice dropped to a low grumble. "And I… I'm too damn short to reach it. Fuckin' genetics and shit…."

"So?" Ludwig said. He bent and picked up the paper Lovino had thrown at him, and turned to go back into his flat. "How is that MY problem?"

"Whaaat?!" Lovino sounded affronted, like his feelings had been hurt. "I ask you for a simple favor, all beseeching and vulnerable-like, and you just turn me down!? The fuck kind of neighbor ARE you? A cruel one, that's what..!"

Ludwig was tempted to slam the door, and take Lovino's paper with him. But he paused, his neighbor's flustered, blushing face flashed in his mind, and his stomach gave a funny little flop. The temptation to leave Lovino out in the hallway, disappointed and missing a light and looking too damn cute in that apron (heinous slippers aside), was decreasing by the second.

Damn. Why wasn't he more heartless?

"Oh, fine," Ludwig sighed, turning in the doorway slowly. Lovino's face lit up, and he swore under his breath. "I'll change that bulb for you."

"Good," Lovino said, and as Ludwig approached he noticed that the smile he'd mistaken from a distance was a smug little smirk. "I knew you'd see it my way."

Ludwig balled a fist at his side as be lumbered closer, and he hid his own smirk as Lovino frowned and quickly scurried back into his apartment. He allowed himself a dry chuckle as he pushed the door open wider and closed it behind him as he entered.

"It's in here," his neighbor's voice came from the kitchen. There Lovino stood, glaring up at the flickering fixture on the ceiling, a pulled out chair beside him. The blown out bulb cast half the kitchen in dim shadow that contrasted irritably with the lighter half. "The wiring in this shithole is so goddamn cheap. It's fucking useless."

Ludwig eyed the box of light bulbs sitting on the counter. "No," he said, picking it up. "I think you're just buying cheap bulbs."

"What?! As if!" Lovino snapped. He crossed his arms and huffed angrily, jerking his head the other way, like he was too insulted to even look at Ludwig. "I didn't ask you to fucking criticize me, prick, so just screw in the stupid bulb and get back to your own place!"

Ludwig sighed again, eyebrows slanting down in an expression of annoyance. All the overreacting to his comments was getting on his nerves. "I didn't have to come over here, why don't you show a little gratitude," he grumbled, carefully picking a new bulb from the box and turning back to look up at the fixture.

"I don't have to show you shit," Lovino replied, shrugging one shoulder. He dropped his arms and gave his head a toss. "Move," he ordered, giving Ludwig a bump as he moved toward the stove. "My muffins are about to ding and if I can ever get around your stupid muscles then maybe I'll give you one."

Ludwig faltered in the middle of reaching up with the bulb. He lowered his arm, blinking in genuine surprise at Lovino, who turned pink. "I… thank you," he said after a moment.

"Don't give me your shitty thanks yet," Lovino snapped, his ears turning red before he whirled around to face the stove. "You haven't done anything. Hippity hop to it, jackass, you're wasting my precious time."

Ludwig stared at him for a moment, utterly baffled by this weird, oddly charming man who lived in the apartment diagonal across the hall. Slowly shaking his head, he decided not to try and figure out him out and just change the bulb. Solving the puzzle of Lovino Vargas would be like trying to solve a rubix cube with no sight; it was nearly impossible.

After handing Lovino the new bulb and requesting to turn the light off, he reached up to remove the shade and unscrew the busted bulb. Extracting it carefully, he exchanged it for the new bulb. Lovino's fingers brushed his, and he tried to convince himself that the warmth he felt after they drew away was still the heat from the old bulb.

While he screwed in the new light bulb, Ludwig felt a gaze on him. His ears and the back of his neck prickled with heat, and he risked a glance at Lovino. His gut gave another flop, this time out of nervousness and perhaps something else, as he watched his neighbor's half-lidded hazel eyes take on a distant gleam as they traced down his body.

Ludwig froze, eyes locked on the pink tinging the other's face. Lovino blinked himself out of his reverie, and his eyes flickered up. They stared at each other for what could have been five minutes, before Lovino blushed furiously and turned away, glaring down at the stove with hunched shoulders and a red neck.

Swallowing hard, Ludwig felt his own blush spread down his back and warm his stomach. Shaking his head again, he tried to put the strange moment out of his mind and focus on the light bulb.

"Okay, done," he announced, once he replaced the shade. His arms went a little numb as he dropped them, and Ludwig frowned, absently rubbing his bicep to dispel the faint pins and needles.

"T-took you long enough," came the mutter from Lovino, and it was muffled, like he was burying his face in his hands.

"Sorry," Ludwig said meaninglessly, moving over to the light switch. Bright light flooded the small kitchen as he flipped it on, and he nodded, satisfied with completing the task.

A loud ding distracted him from his satisfaction, and Ludwig accidentally glimpsed at Lovino's ass as the other bent to pull a tin out of the small compact stove. He blushed again and immediately looked away, but risked another peek after a moment. It made his heartbeat pound a little harder.

Lovino all but slammed the muffin tin on the counter, and ripped off his oven mitt. He turned to the cabinet, pulled out a small plastic plate, opened a drawer and pulled out a knife, and turned back to the tin.

Ludwig was surprised when the plate was shoved into his face, the muffin placed on it crumbled and in pieces.

"Take it," Lovino mumbled, "it's banana nut with chocolate chips and walnuts."

A show of gratitude? Lovino was full of surprises, Ludwig mused as he reached up to take the plate. Their fingers brushed again, and he didn't know what to convince himself of when a small hot tingle shot down his nerves. "Thank you very much."

"Now get out of here." Lovino put his hands on Ludwig's shoulders and wheeled him around with a surprising show of strength (that, or Ludwig wasn't really resisting anyways). He ushered his to the door and all but kicked him out. "You're welcome for the muffin. And you can keep my paper, I donate them to recycling anyways."

Ludwig turned, just as the door was slammed in his face. A loud Italian curse word reached his ears through the door, and he glanced back down at the muffin he'd been rewarded with. He pinched a small bit off of one of the larger crumbles, and popped it in his mouth. A small smile quirked onto his mouth as the fruity flavor hit his tongue, and he shook his head, fondness gripping him as he walked back to his own apartment.

Ludwig briefly wondered if Lovino's mouth would also taste like bananas and walnuts, and if he'd need any more light bulbs replaced soon.


End file.
